


Seven's Deadly Sins

by Shaish



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha!Pepper, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst and Humor, Bananas, Body Horror, Body Modification, Bonding, Candy thief, Cold temperatures are cold, Cybernetics, Cyborgs, Dark, Everyone Protect Seven, Everyone needs a vent, Flashbacks, Fluff, Hacking, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Imprinting, Jarvis has a new bff, Knotting, Lots of Russian finger writing, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Medical Procedures, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Nurturing, Old School Hydra are assholes, Other Winter Soldiers, Pepper Potts to the rescue, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Scenting, Sign Language, The Winter Soldier project, There is no sexual content with Pepper, Trauma, Vents are safe houses, What does your CPU run at?, adorable assassins, man vs machine, mentions of torture, mute!character, omega!Tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-09-14 07:09:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9167692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaish/pseuds/Shaish
Summary: In which Pepper Potts brings home a feral cat...well, feral assassin. That's practically the same thing, right?





	1. Cats in the Cradle

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by the fantastic Shaish. Thanks for all the hard work, crazy plot bunnies, and amazing doodles.
> 
> Also if my Cyrillic is incorrect please let me know, I'm still learning.

“Thank you. We’ll be in touch to arrange any additional paperwork. Stark Industries is pleased to have you joining us in clean energy.”

The muted applause, the formality of signing paperwork, smiles, and shaking hands was the life that Pepper Potts lived now with the new leaf of Stark Industries. Clean energy, vaccinations, modern living appliances compatible in third world countries, such as toilets that could flush without water, low cost water treatment plants and power, were the new face of Tony’s attempt to assuage his guilt for what Stark Industries had done with their decades of weapon designing.

Pepper had taken over as the face and PR control of Stark Industries. She had a way of handling the public, and even if the mastermind behind the technology was Tony, the world still held to the prejudices that an Alpha should be in control. Meetings went much smoother with Pepper involved than Tony, and it was just easier for her to cater to the song and dance that was expected of them.

The sound of her starkphone jarred her as she quickly dug through her bag to grab it. She gave her driver a nod and held up her hand for a few moments as she stepped away from the crowded entrance that was clustered with people and reporters. “Tony?” She managed to get a reasonable amount of privacy as she stepped away.

“Hey Peps, how’d it go in that big Serbia meeting? They love everything about us and can’t wait to sign tomorrow right?” Hearing his voice eased some of the worry that Pepper felt whenever he called unexpectedly. She could hear him tinkering in his workshop in the background. The trips were necessary for work but it never made it easy for an alpha to be so far away from their omega, but both Tony and Pepper knew this was how it had to be.

“Well yes, Tony. They’ve already-”

“Great! So what’s your ETA? About what...7 or 8 hours? Foreseeing any delays? Maybe you need to stop and get a quick massage or haircut?”

The rushed tone and the distracted deflection were things about Tony that Pepper was very used to. She crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. “Tony. What are you up to? Please don’t tell me you leaked our address again or blew up the tower.”

“Up to something? What would make you think I’m up to something? I’m just having a quiet night at the tower. Maybe I was thinking we could order some Thai for when you get back. I just want to make sure it’s all warm and ready to go-”

“Tony.”

“Okay, so maybe I am handling a highly combustible chemical right now and I need you to steer clear of the workshop for a while. Don’t just pop back in without letting me know.”

“TONY.”

“It’s perfectly safe, Pepper! I do it all the time.”

“That is not what I want to hear, Tony! Fine. I will let you know when I am back. I will see you in a few hours.” With that she cut the line and tossed her phone in her bag. “Honestly, Tony…” She rubbed her palms over her face in agitation. She loved Tony dearly but he truly was just a big child at times. A child with possession of extreme weaponry that had no sense of self preservation.

A movement from the corner of her eye made her aware she had stopped at an open alleyway. Her eyes lifted from her bag and she took a startled step back with a soft gasp.

Her eyes had locked with the steely blank gaze of the man before her. His body was coiled and crouched as if he had silently slipped from the rooftops and dropped before her, and perhaps he had. His head was shaved on one side and Pepper could see what looked like bizarre mechanical slots against his temple. The rest of his hair was dark and dirty, a tangled feral mess along his head.

Pepper managed to take another step back as she took in the tactical gear and leather that adorned his body. Her eyes frantically picked out the knives strapped to his thigh and wrist. She could visibly see he had at least four guns but she knew he could have plenty of other weapons hidden on his person. With his slender frame yet muscular build, he could easily subdue her. Alpha or not, all of Pepper’s instincts were telling her to flee.

With her heartbeat pounding erratically in her throat, Pepper felt adrenaline spike through her body as her muscles tightened and prepared to escape. She didn’t have any idea how far she would make it but she hadn’t walked that far from the public area. She could slip back into the crowd and hopefully lose him in the safety of numbers and seek refuge back inside the building.

She flinched as he moved, her breath caught, but she watched as instead of reaching for her, his body slipped sideways as his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the cement of the alleyway.

Pepper never took her eyes from her assailant in case this was some sort of ruse to lower her guard. The real question she wondered was what on earth was happening here. As her eyes skimmed over his form she noted how pale he looked, a smudge of bruises that had been hidden under his mess of hair, and took note of his bloody hands and torn knuckles. Instead of taking a step away Pepper took a step closer instead; she noted a trickle of black liquid that bled into red as it raced over the alley stones and away from the man’s body.

The best thing would be to walk away and get far away from here and let Tony know that there had been a man sent after her. Pepper found herself rooted to her spot. She couldn’t just leave him here in an alley while he was hurt and could die. A voice in her head that sounded surprisingly like Tony proclaimed oh yes she in fact could but she ignored it. Pepper hit her speed dial. “I’m near…” She looked around to the buildings at the mouth of the alley, “the Starbucks. Bring the car around near the alley. Thanks, Happy.”

She cautiously knelt down next to the man and attempted to assess his injuries. He must have been either shot or stabbed for the amount of blood that was flowing from him. They couldn’t take him to be treated at a hospital because she imagined he was the type that more of him would be sent after them or he would miraculously manage to disappear. She hoped he wasn’t too beyond her ability to care for him but she knew who to call if she needed help.

“Miss Potts, what on earth-?” Pepper could hear the sound of the car door as Happy pulled up and the click of his pistol. He wasn’t the best shot but he would always try to defend Pepper within the best of his abilities.

“That’s not necessary, Happy. He isn’t a threat to us much right now. Help me get him in the car.” Happy made halfhearted protests against this idea but he moved, and between the two of them, they lifted the unconscious man into the car and sprawled him along one of the back seats. Pepper climbed in beside him and shut the door. She ignored the blood on her palms and her leaf green dress.

“Miss Potts, where do you want to take him? Should I let the plane know we’ll be late?”

The options swirled around in Pepper’s head. She had checked out of her hotel this morning and could easily book another room, but that ran the risk of trying to get him into her room undetected and how to dispose of any bloody clothing or weapons. If his injuries were really too bad…

“No, have them prepare a private boarding. Minimal staff. Have them fuel up enough to get to the Malibu house.” As the car pulled away from the curb Pepper activated the direct link on her phone to Jarvis. “Jarvis?”

“Yes, Miss Potts? What can I assist you with?”

“Let Tony know I need to make a stop in Malibu for a few days, I’m taking up his suggestion of a spa day. I’ll let him know when I am on my way to New York.” She reached in the refreshment bar, pulled out a few towels, and she held pressure on the places that she could see the blood welling on the man. They would need to cut him out of his clothes to assess the level of damage.

“I will inform Sir, Miss Potts. I will also prepare the Malibu house for your stay.”

“Thank you. Jarvis, I need you to contact Stephen Strange and let him know that I need his help. Tell him it’s for the time in college that we don’t talk about. Arrange for his travel and I’ll meet him at the house.”

“Right away, Miss Potts.”

===

The clatter of surgical equipment was the sign of an operation successfully performed. The hour had crept very late but there had never been a surgery that Stephen Strange had performed that was not flawlessly completed. While it was taxing to use his energy to maintain his hands, he considered his debt and dues paid. The tremor that returned to his palms was familiar and irksome but he had accepted it. He pulled off his gloves and tossed them into the disposal.

“I wouldn’t say doing intensive surgery in Tony Stark’s work room is ideal but I’ve done stranger things.” Strange continued to disrobe out of smock and took a look at the woman who was perched in a chair out of the way but had never left the room.

“You wouldn’t be the best surgeon in the world if you weren’t a little strange.” A smile curved Pepper’s lips as she allowed herself to finally relax, a strange sense of relief filling her at the quiet beep of a steady and strong heartbeat.

“Beautiful AND honest, now there is a delightful combination you don’t see every day.”

Pepper held out a wine glass to him which Strange accepted as he stopped next to her. She clinked her glass with his before her eyes fell on the man lying on the makeshift operating table. “Tell me, Stephen, how bad was he?”

“Well. I’m not sure what your fellow was up to or how he managed to get what looks like half a plane in his chest, but he’ll make a full recovery. I might need to check on how his electronics are operating after this-”

“Electronics? What electronics?” She lowered her wine glass to a counter and made to move to inspect her assailant but Strange stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“Stark’s toy could tell you that he’s full of electronics. You didn’t know this?”

“We met under some…quick circumstances.” Pepper glossed over how little she actually knew about him. For all she knew he could wake up from this and try to kill her but she felt Strange didn’t need to know that. Since her alteration she wasn’t completely helpless when encountering enhanced individuals, and if the house suffered a bit of damage from her protecting herself it would just have to be.

Strange tossed back his drink and placed it on the counter next to her own. “Let’s go through the long and short of it and I’ll get out of your hair. The less I know feels better, honestly. If there is a problem with his electronics just give me a call and I’ll sort him out. His body is a bit different from what I’ve normally seen but it looks like he has several implants in his body. Maybe some sort of traumatic accident but from what I can tell he has wires in a good portion of his body. I’m not sure what they are made out of. It seems like they are coated in silicone and it must have been a medical procedure. I don’t have the proper imaging tools here to see just exactly what we are dealing with here so it’s something that you may want to look into at a later date. The wires are extremely strong so they actually seemed to help deflect some of the shrapnel from his body and internal organs.”

To continue their discussion, Strange lead her over to the man on the table. Lying there, unconscious and in the surgical light made him look dead with his pale coloring. His cheeks were gaunt and his eyes were sunken. His dark hair was a ratty mess on the table but it had been tucked up and away to allow the examination of the bruises along his face. “The facial bruising is fine. It appears as though he had a small fracture along his left cheek bone but as long as he doesn’t aggravate it that should heal in a few weeks.”

Strange pointed at the shaved side of the man’s head and at the mechanical port there. “That looks like something plugs in there. I’m not sure how deep the port and metal goes but you can see the facial scarring here from scalpels so this was surgically done. It looks a bit like burn damage so it’s possible they cauterized it.” His hand continued down to the deep gouge marks on either side of his neck, a considerable chunk of flesh and muscle had been removed. “There are a few stitch marks so the patch up was surgical but I’m not sure about the removal method.”

“Removal?” Pepper questioned as she looked at the indented and scarred skin. “Tumors? Cancer?”

“Scent glands. It looks like his scent glands and his bonding gland have been removed.” At the sound of Pepper’s horrified noises Strange felt the same sympathy towards the man on the table as he had when he had discovered it. To remove someone’s bonding gland and to remove their entire ability to bond with someone on such a deep and intimate level was something completely beyond what they could ever imagine. “Now that the blood is cleaned up you’ll notice that there is an uncomfortable lack of scent. They were very thorough. Usually the smaller scent glands can output something but for this fellow it doesn’t seem to be the case. I can tell you his designation with an examination if you like-”

“That won’t be necessary. As long as it doesn’t interfere with his recovery it doesn’t matter what his designation is.” Pepper declined the offer hastily. They had already taken liberties by removing him from his country and treating him without his consent but it had been a dire case. She would escort him back when he was recovered and able to return home, but she did not feel it was considerate to invade his body for something so simple as a designation. Alphas, Omegas, and Betas all healed the same, and once he awoke he would be able to inform them of any unique needs he may have due to his gland removal and physiology. 

“Alright, carrying on then.” Strange gestured to the array of bandages and dressings that adorned the man’s torso. “So, he had a great deal of shrapnel in his torso and abdomen. The silicone wires seem to form a protective casing along his ribs and his sides, you can see here where I tried to cut to open him up for a more internal look. I managed to get all the shrapnel. Anything smaller will push out of his skin and wash away with minimal problems. The warm water of a bath or shower will help push them to the surface. He may experience some itching and redness but that is normal.”

There seemed to be more dressings than skin exposed for him. The man’s torso was muscular and defined even if his sleekness seemed to expose a hint of lack of nutrition. Pepper wasn’t particularly a fighter but his sleekness and stature reminded her of Natasha. She knew very well when she first hired Natasha, even if it was a cover for her, that someone of smaller size and less assuming build was often disregarded and overlooked and it usually proved to their advantage. A glint of metal caught her eye and she noticed two mechanical ports located on the top of his wrists. She couldn’t imagine what would be plugged into him, or why anyone would want to do this to a person.

Strange selected a wooden tongue depressor off the cart next to the table and traced a bandage that was along the left side of the man’s stomach. “This is the most serious. I thought it was caused by shrapnel at first but it looks to be a pretty deep knife wound. Seems to be caused by a serrated blade about two inches deep. It’s not pretty and it’s going to cause him some pain. He needs to refrain from too much walking and twisting for the first two weeks. Sitting will hurt, but it’s better if he reclines back to avoid causing the muscles to move too much.” He dropped the depressor back to the cart. “The good news is there aren’t any bullet wounds. The rest of his injuries are minor scraping and bruising. As for any internal damage from the shrapnel it missed any organs due to those handy silicone wires he has. So now his body just has to take its course from here. Change the dressings daily and he should be good as new in a month or two.”

Pepper was confident that Jarvis had recorded the exchange and she would be able to reference it for his care any time she liked. “Let me get him moved to a room and we’ll look into getting dinner before you go, Stephen. I really appreciate this and all you’ve done.”

“It’s no trouble. As I said, if he encounters any problems just give me a call and I can see what I can do. It’s not completely my element but I don’t think he’s something I can’t handle. I’m always looking for something new and exciting.”

===

At first, he thought it was the tube.

The only time when he had blankness and calm clarity was before he was put in the tube to cool. The cold would spread through his limbs, the metal in his body would sigh in relief, and he would be still. In the calmness he would wait until the cool would recede and his body would shake.

The stillness receded, he felt the looseness in his limbs and the calmness of his mind before the start of his mission. He waited for the cold to escape and felt…none.

He felt a warmth that cradled his back and a smothered heat around his chest. He felt the hot rush of blood along his side instead of the cold, solid crust of wasted blood that would be pried away with tongs. There was no moistness in the air and his eyes felt heavy but without the frost clinging to his lashes that refused to allow them to open until he was properly ready. It was not natural.

With a sharp, inhaled breath, he fought against the smothering warmth and flailed to get away from it. He was overheating and not empty. Something was wrong. He was malfunctioning. He needed to tell a handler right away. He escaped from the warmth with a crash as he hit the floor. His eyes opened with ease that they should not have. He blearily scanned the room, his heart pounding in his ears and encouraging the heat to flood through his veins. He wasn’t cold. Something was wrong. He noticed a cloth that he had escaped from on the floor along with cushions. He scooted away from them until his back hit the wall. A burst of stinging pain blossomed in his stomach but he ignored it. It would all be wiped away once he was properly cooled. His hand covered the twinge as his breath stuttered in fear.

“Please do not be alarmed. You are safe. Please do not move, you are aggravating your injuries. I have notified Miss Potts that you are awake,” a calm voice spoke to him in a way he did not understand. The words did not make sense to him and he could not find a handler near him. He understood the words for instructions and knew they would correct him if he could not comply. He curled in on himself and placed his other arm behind his back and tilted his head to expose his throat in submission.

“Miss Potts, he is agitated, perhaps it would be best to allow me to speak for you.”

“That won’t be necessary, Jarvis. He is just probably disoriented and if he isn’t used to you he’ll probably be even more confused.” The door slid open and a handler appeared in the room. He could smell a strange scent of poppies and honey mingled with a faint undertone of metal and firewood. The scent eased the tenseness in his spine but he did not move from the wall or make eye contact with his handler. “It’s alright, you’re safe now. I’m not going to hurt you. You were very injured when I found you. “

The soothing voice of his handler continued to grow closer until she stopped and crouched down in front of him. The handler didn’t touch him, they never did unless they had to, but her directness and her tone implied that she was speaking to him, but her words eluded him. He must be very damaged from the last mission.

His mouth opened and closed a few times but he knew that he was not created to exchange words with his handler. He was not advanced enough to possess the ability to talk. He lifted his hand from his stomach and carefully placed it on the floor within view of his handler. He felt strange from his overheating and his aches from the last mission made a fuzz of dizziness drift over his mind. It had been many years but he had been taught by one handler how to read signs and any pertinent information that may be vital to their directive. It took a moment but he slowly remembered the letters as he began to write the word, sounding it out wordlessly as he wrote in his own blood.

“Jarvis, what is he writing?” The lack of a response had alarmed Pepper and she was moments from calling Strange again to check if this was normal but she could see characters being drawn a bit morbidly into the wooden floor.

_Н...е...и..._

“I am cross referencing what characters I have, one moment please.”

_с...л...р...а...в…_

“It appears to be Cyrillic, Miss Potts. Translating now and updating my dictionaries for better communication.”

_н...о...с...т…ь..._

“It appears to be the word ‘Malfunction’, Miss Potts.”

There was a moment of stillness as Pepper stared at the man before her in shock. She realized how young he looked curled against the wall. Even with no scent pouring off him her instincts growled at the way he exposed his throat in fear and kept his eyes averted from her. There was something so wrong in seeing him cower away from her and this was something so drastically out of her league to deal with.

“Jarvis, translate for me please. My name is Pepper. You were hurt and I found you.” She listened to the steady stream of Russian that followed after her words in Jarvis’s calm tone. “Can you tell me your name?” The question was greeted with a muted shake of his head but he kept his eyes averted. He did not understand. He was an asset; he did not have a name. “Can you tell me who you are?”

There was a pause before he began to write again. Pepper grimaced but ignored his blood stained fingers. She felt if she even moved right now it would cause his fear of her to increase. The response Pepper received was one letter. She stared at it in confusion. 

“Jarvis?”

“I believe that is the Cyrillic numeral for seven, Miss Potts.”

“Seven?” She questioned, but noticed that she received a sharp nod from the man before her. She lifted her hand and rubbed her forehead. She felt a faint twinge that perhaps she should call and consult with the others on this, but she didn’t feel that more people wouldn’t help him feel at ease if just interacting with her caused him to be panicked. Perhaps when he was more rested she could get some insight from Bucky. She also didn’t want to admit it, but all of her instincts told her to keep him hidden and safe from any threats. “Okay, Seven, you are very injured but they have been taken care of. You need to rest while you heal.”

_помощь._

“Yes, we took care of you. Will you get back into bed for me?” Her voice was soft but Seven could hear the command in it. He inhaled softly once more and noticed under the pleasant scent of firewood he could detect the alpha pheromones from his handler. It made sense to him and assured him that he was with the appropriate handler even if he was not in the tube. Something must have gone direly wrong on the last mission and he required a special kind of maintenance before he could return to the tube.

Seven moved back to the large platform he had woken upon and settled back on it, resisting a flinch as his stomach burned. The heat was unpleasant in the stifling room. He eased back at his handler’s request and allowed her to move the dressing over his stomach more firmly to stop the bleeding.

Pepper scooped the blanket off from the floor and returned to his side when she noticed the way he grimaced and tilted his head away from the blanket, but seemed to accept her actions without complaint or comment. "Seven?" She questioned and waited until he tilted his head slightly towards her, listening, "do you not want this?" She held up the blanket.

The question confused him considerably. He was unsure what he was supposed to answer. Was he meant to have the covering? Was it a mission material?

As he mulled over what to do, Jarvis spoke once more. “Miss Potts, it seems that questions seem to be provoking an elevated heart rate and breathing that resembles a panic induced state. It might be wise if you rephrase your wording.”

The observation from Jarvis came as a surprise to Pepper. Seven showed no extreme outward signs of any panicking or bothered mannerisms. As she watched him, she did notice a slight dip in his chest as he inhaled but nothing too extreme, but she would take Jarvis’s word for it.

“Seven? Alternate language protocol?” Pepper floundered for some sort of military sounding speech. She tried to think of something more technical. She was hoping maybe it would make sense to him in some way and he would be able to communicate in a different way rather than resorting to him writing everything. She imagined Tony would be able to figure something out in a few hours but right now that was not happening.

There was another pause as Seven took a moment to consider his handler’s words. His only alternate language was bare minimum as only necessary for mission parameters. He couldn’t understand his handler’s desire to communicate with him but perhaps she required a mission report concerning the last mission that no one was available to provide. He lifted his hands and slowly and disjointedly began to sign. _‘Alternate protocol accepted. Ready to comply.’_

“Jarvis?” Pepper questioned as she watched Seven. He seemed calmer before her, his breathing no longer hitched in his chest but she was chilled by the blank eyes that stared back at her. He was like robot, just waiting for her to input her commands and that thought made her sick to her stomach.

“It appears that Seven’s heart rate and elevated breathing has subsided. Shall I investigate on if Sergeant Barnes has any command words similar?”

The whole situation and the uncanny similarity to Bucky made Pepper shudder as a chill raced down her spine. She didn’t want to start looking into Bucky’s past and pulling up his ‘passcodes’. It felt so dirty and invasive to her. She didn’t know what to do about the seemingly harmless blank slate in front of her. “Not…Not yet, Jarvis. Let’s just monitor his vitals and see if we can comfort him. Keep translating his signing and my English, please.”

“Yes, Miss Potts.”

Pepper took a deep breath and smiled her business smile at Seven. “Okay, Seven, explain…standard maintenance procedures?” She folded the blanket in her arms and held it to her, her hands tucked into the folds as they twisted in the fabric uncomfortably.

‘ _Sanitization. Maintenance. Hookup. Data Extraction. Clarity. Cold. Mission.’_ The words were signed to Pepper at a stilted rate, Seven’s hands slow and clumsy from lack of use to sign. He fumbled through a few words and several he had to sign each letter as his lack of knowledge failed him.

As he spoke, Pepper’s eyes flickered over the ports that rested in his head and wrists. She couldn’t imagine what that meant. Did he mean they extracted data from him? Were those ports really something that they plugged in and removed things from him? Strange had mentioned the bizarre wires within his body, perhaps they had something to do with whatever they were pulling out of him. She ignored the tightness in her chest and the faint burn in her eyes as he spoke. Sanitization must mean some sort of shower, if they showered him. Maintenance must be first aid and seeing to any of his wounds. She didn’t want to imagine what Data Extraction, Clarity, and Cold even meant. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. 

“Okay, so we aren’t going to the…Hookup right now. You need to rest before your next mission. So…cold?” Pepper received an affirming nod from Seven. He rationalized that if he needed to gather more data from a mission or former data applied to this mission it made logical sense to retain the data until the handler wished to remove it. “Jarvis, lower the temperature please.” She left the blanket at the edge of the bed in case Seven wanted to use it. As she considered it, she looked up at his blank gaze. “Umm…you are permitted to use this.”

Seven watched her and inclined his head in affirmation though he knew that cloth was never required during the cold. His body minutely relaxed as he listened to the sound of a fan gear up and cold air began to circulate in the room. His eyes drooped in satisfaction. He could hear the sound of his handler still speaking to him but her unintelligible words and the drone of calm Russian didn’t register as directives and he allowed himself to succumb to the blankness.

The cooling hum of the fan was the only sound that filled the room. The lights dimmed as Pepper urged herself to move away from him and into the hallway. The door slid shut silently behind her. She allowed herself to lean against the door, her head softly hitting it as she stared the ceiling. “Jarvis…maximum security, please. I don’t even want Tony in here without knowing it.” She exhaled slowly before she straightened up. She was Pepper Potts, she was the CEO of Stark Industries, she handled hundreds of diplomats and all the PR affairs of the Avengers. She would handle this and make sure that Seven was in safe hands, even if the safest hands meant her own. 

“Jarvis, put in an order for my usual Thai please. And could you please find me some Russian courses?”


	2. Silver Spoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bathing 101 and Fork Etiquette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a late chapter! We have some more adventures with Pepper and Seven. 
> 
> Beta'd by the fantastic Shaish. Thanks for all the hard work, crazy plot bunnies, and amazing doodles.

The night crept on closer to dawn but Pepper was far too restless to sleep. She listened to several courses that Jarvis had cued up for her from the best Russian linguists he could find, but after about half an hour she felt a frustrating sense of impatience fill her. She ended up switching over to sign language which was more her pace. It took her some time to decide which route was the best option but she settled on International Sign Language in consideration of where she had found Seven. With Jarvis’s ability to translate it would help in the first few days but she wanted to be able to communicate with him on her own.

“Jarvis, pause the video,” she requested, and slouched back into the couch with a sigh. The video halted mid-frame on a smiling doctor who had been discussing the benefits of learning to sign for your loved ones. The videos attempted to make the process a fun learning experience, but the longer Pepper practiced the basics the more her mind wandered to the man tucked away in the guest room. She ran her finger over her bottom lip before she spoke, “Jarvis...can you run a facial recognition scan on Seven? Anything you can find on him would be great. A name, criminal record, family...anything.” 

“Right away, Miss Potts.” 

The video on the television screen vanished as an array of files began to sort at a quick rate as Jarvis accessed several databases of security cameras and low level government files. The scan would pause momentarily as Jarvis compared Seven’s facial structure to similar individuals, but after several moments the scan stopped. “There appears to be no definitive match.” 

Up until that point she’d had an inkling of hope that perhaps she was wrong. It was a strange wish to hope that he was part of some government, that he was part of the mafia, a hired hitman, or even a smaller terrorist group like the Mandarin had possessed. Pepper had hoped for any other option than the suspicions that crawled at her brain and the dread that gripped her heart. She didn’t want to consider it, but the thought that Seven was Hydra was gaining evidence. The programming, the scarring, the extreme body modifications, and the fear and submission to comply; it was overwhelming. The similarities between Seven and Bucky Barnes were glaringly great and in the world they lived in the idea that it could be some sort of coincidence was impossible. 

“Jarvis...please scan for any information that may pertain to Seven in any government files as deep as you can go that won’t set off alerts. Look in the files Natasha leaked from Hydra as well.” 

The scan resumed, and rather than featuring the faces of individuals, the items on the screen raced through documents in multiple languages. Pepper purposely kept her face away from the screen. She didn’t want to see the wall of deaths, the evidence of Hydra’s grip, the torture, the victims, and the inhumanity. 

Her gaze drifted along the glass windows, the soft light from the kitchen bar, and over the pictures that hung on the walls. Several of the paintings were gifts from Steve once he had begun to paint freely at Bucky’s urging. The pictures were beautiful and welcoming. The pale blue of an ocean that the sunrise kissed and a lone girl standing along the beach was one of her favorites. Instead of seeming lonely and isolated the picture was serene and calm. Pepper had hung it directly over the mantle and had professional lights installed to feature it, much to Steve’s embarrassment; he was always so modest about his art.

Directly beneath the picture it featured a framed photograph of Bucky, Steve, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Sam, and herself. Steve, Natasha, and herself were seated on the couch. Tony gestured wildly as he had been heatedly arguing over movie preferences with Sam and Clint who lounged in armchairs. Natasha had watched from the doorway with an amused smile on her face. Bucky had draped himself over the back of the couch into Steve’s space, his arms around the other man’s shoulders in the middle of a laugh, eyes crinkled with mirth.

Pepper’s eyes focused on Bucky. He looked so happy and relaxed with everyone. His metal arm was across Steve’s chest which Steve held onto as he looked up at Bucky’s laughing face with a wide grin. The pair of them were trouble, there was no doubt of that. Pepper had been mercifully off limits during their eternal prank wars with the others, which she was grateful for, but on more than one occasion she had dealt with Tony’s outrage of being out manoeuvred by two ‘geriatric lovebirds! They’re savages, Pepper!’ It was wonderful to see Bucky had reclaimed so much of himself and be his own person again. She was far removed from him when they first came to live in the Tower, but she remembered his blank silences and stormy glares. A part of her wondered if shown enough kindness and love, would Seven emerge from his own blank slate? Was he another victim like Bucky with a lost past? Was he trapped within his own mind and body, forced to commit horrors and tortured over and over? With so many modifications to his body, Pepper didn’t want to imagine what he may have gone through. She felt sick. 

“Miss Potts, I believe I have found something pertaining to Seven.” At the sound of Jarvis’s voice, Pepper jumped and knocked her foot against the table with a clatter. Her heart pounded slightly and she pressed her hand against it as she turned to focus on the screens. 

Jarvis displayed several files on screen. The majority of them were in Cyrillic and were translated for her viewing. She expected a picture of Seven’s face which was what Hydra had kept within Bucky’s file, but that was not what she received. The first few files never mentioned any name at all but she noticed that the file appeared to start with a strange string of numbers and an odd extension. “Jarvis, what are these? They don’t look like any sort of case file.”

“It appears to be some sort of program that outputs encrypted files from a data bank. The files all reference a No7 and a following numerical pattern varies after that. The extension appears to be a program that compiles and displays this gathered data. There are 113 of these files. While I do not have the designated compiler it was designed for I was able to process and output the files with minimal error. The majority of files appear to be S.H.I.E.L.D. data files. The other files are output in a data dump which appears to hold information focused on gathering temperature, velocity, impact, and 23 other inputs.” The files on the screen were highlighted in the area that Jarvis showed similarities and a reoccurring pattern. Pepper could see the repeated ‘No7, No7, No7, No7’ over and over.

“There isn’t any personal information on him? No origins or footage? Is there anything we can use to confirm that this is actually Seven?” Pepper questioned. She knew that it would take a more trained eye to understand and make sense of all the text and numbers on the screen before her. 

“There is no photograph containing Seven’s body or face. There is a photograph containing similar mechanical devices to his displayed modifications.” The other files faded as Jarvis pulled up and enlarged a grainy picture on screen. The contents looked like they were thread or yarn, or at least that’s what Pepper thought. She frowned at the picture before she realized what she was looking at. 

“Jarvis, is that…?”

“It appears to be wires, Miss Potts.” They were. It was as if a film was lifted from Pepper’s eyes and her vision cleared. She could that what she had first thought as thread was in fact small tubes that resembled fat, rounded cables. The cables coiled around one another and connected to some form of larger metal plates. They were difficult to make out but they were on a metal tray and had a faint glare of an electrical glow in the photograph. Aside from the faint glow they were difficult to see due to a smudge of blackness. The more Pepper peered at them the more she tried to convince herself that they weren’t soaked in blood. It was a grim fact to realize that they did resemble the ports within Seven’s head and wrists but they were rudimentary in design.

Pepper pressed her hand over her mouth, a low anguished sound leaving her lips beyond her control. She felt like she could stare for hours at this picture and never truly understand and see all the horror for what it was. The dark smudges on the cables and mechanical ports were splashed all over the metal tray and the table that it rested on. Pepper’s initial thought was that it was a poor quality photograph or a damaged image but she could see with a sudden clarity that it was in fact blood. Those cables were smudged and glistening with the dark sticky fluid. Whoever had handled the cluster of cables must have thrown them onto the tray with a bit of frustrated force as the trail of blackness escaped from the tray, left a smattering of stickiness along the table, and disappeared onto the floor. 

“T-that’s enough, Jarvis. Thank you.” The picture vanished from screen and was replaced with different files. Pepper lifted her hands and rubbed her eyes but she doubted she would forget that image any time soon. She looked at the screen and was lost. There was so much data but so little information about Seven other than that photograph. There had to be more about him. “Jarvis, is there nothing else about who Seven is? They had their assets in their other...projects...where is he? Would they really not document him?” 

“I believe this __is__ Seven, Miss Potts.” Several files shifted on the screen and Jarvis brought forth the large files of data dumps and listed the recurrences in downloads. “These files are reading data very different than the previous S.H.I.E.L.D. files. Such items monitored within the data, such as temperature, is registering at a level that resembles a body temperature. There are readings that map along a structure very similar to the human nervous system. It appears that these ratings also monitor this system's velocity, impact, and flexibility. These readings siphon down into very acute levels but the overall impression I have received from this is that these outputs are from the wires that Doctor Strange had discovered within Seven’s body and are filled with sensors that record data. It is merely a hypothesis until further research is performed but my theory is that this data is recorded within Seven from these neural sensors and downloaded to Hydra from his ports.” 

“Forget just hacking and stealing data like everyone else in the world, let’s just fill a poor boy with wires and plug his head in and use him as a drive.” It was impossible for Pepper to keep the disgust out of her tone and a muffled growl escaped. 

“There are additional files concerning Seven that may interest you, Miss Potts.”

“No. Not tonight, Jarvis.” She shook her head. “I can’t look at anymore of this right now.” Pepper stood and fetched her mug off the coffee table. “Keep those files. I’ll revisit them at a later date.” She listed to the AI’s confirmation and when the files slipped away from the screen to reveal the smiling doctor from her sign language video, she couldn’t help the irritation that curled up her spine. It was unfair that people like Bucky and Seven had to suffer so much at the hands of monsters and other people were oblivious to the true horrors that lurked in this world. 

The sunlight was beginning to stream through the windows, the sunrise had managed to creep up on her unnoticed. She headed into the kitchen and placed her mug under the coffee machine and hit the button rather aggressively. The machine whirred quietly before it sputtered into life, splattering dark liquid into her cup. Pepper rested her hands on the counter and bowed her head as she listened to the hot water hiss at her. “I bet he’s hungry…” She murmured softly as she stared at her manicured nails. 

In that moment she made her decision. She abandoned her cup at the counter and headed back towards the guest room. With his wounds healing he wouldn’t be mobile for several days but she wanted to get to know him and help ease the hurts that Hydra had inflicted on him. They would work and overcome the speech barrier between them together. She gently knocked on the door with the back of her knuckles. She wanted to announce her presence to him so as to not startle him anymore than he already was. “Seven?” She called as she pushed the door open and let herself in. 

What she had been prepared for was to find Seven still sleeping or awakening at her call. That was not was she received. The bed was remade as it had been when Pepper had urged Seven onto it, the blanket she had offered him was still folded and looked as if it had never been touched. The man himself was backed against the far wall away from Pepper with his hands behind his head and his face lowered. 

“What are you doing!?” Pepper exclaimed in alarm as she quickly moved further into the room towards him but stopped suddenly at the barely visible flinched that drifted over his face. She took a deep breath and forced her hands to unclench at her sides. “Seven, you shouldn’t be out of bed. You’re injured. Maintenance.” She pointed out as she took in the large number of bandages still wrapped along his torso. 

At the slight delayed translation from Jarvis, Seven lowered one hand and peeled back the dressing at his hip where the serrated wound had been. It was one of his deeper wounds and Strange had assured that it would ail his movement for several weeks. The dressing pulled back slowly to reveal healing pink skin. On anyone else, it would fade into a scar, but it seemed in a few hours his body had healed so quickly that Pepper had no doubt that it would disappear from view in a few days time. 

Grey eyes peaked at Pepper from under a messy, dark fringe. At the stunned expression on her face, but not disapproval, Seven continued to remove dressings until he was bare, the majority of his wounds shown as soft pink, healing skin. As Pepper marveled over his quick healing factor she wondered if it rivaled Steve and Bucky’s, Seven lowered his other hand and signed, ‘ _ _Functional. Mission?’__

The insistent request made Pepper wonder if there was anything beyond missions in Seven’s world before she had found him. Pepper took a calming breath and straightened her spine. She would handle this. 

===

The faint cold air in the room circulated by the faint hum of fans was nothing that Seven was unaccustom to. It was warmer than the tube and the lack of frost that coated his every breath served as a reminder at how different the environment was here. He had waited while his body had healed from the former mission but he expected at any moment that he would be prepped for his next one.

The chill was his waiting signal. At the return of his handler, the sound of her footsteps easy to place outside the door, he had shifted into his customary position for extraction. The displeasure she had expressed and her insistence he was still in maintenance confused him immensely. He had received maintenance and was functioning at minimum requirements for any mission parameters. He had concluded that the insistence of maintenance was due to the dressings on his skin to which he removed and bared himself to prove his status. 

As the dressings were removed from him, he felt the cold air race in over his skin, the heated flesh, where his body temperature had slightly elevated to knit his skin together cooled rapidly. Outwardly, his body protested the cold instinctively as his body minutely shivered and the bare flesh of his body raised into small bumps, a mimicry of biology attempting to lift non-existent hair to shield his body from the environment and gather warmth.

Seven’s entire body, save for his long hair and shaved area around the ports, was hairless and smooth. The hair within follicles interfered with cooling measures, according to a faceless technician who spoke over Seven’s head after one mission as they had plugged him in. 

It was not uncommon for the technicians and handlers to speak their mind as they moved around Seven. Their treatment was rough on his body but it was expected. Seven understood that he was a program. His body was perfectly designed to allow him to assimilate with society on his missions but was not intended for anything else. He was often informed that while he may look human, he was not. The wires under his skin and inability to speak were proof of his inhumanity. 

When Seven was in the early stage of his programming, he had once believed he was like his handlers but he was wrong. He had been young and much smaller than he was now. He had relative free reign to wander within the facility. His handler had sent him to fetch materials so he could continue studying data codes, they would be crucial to his success in pleasing Hydra. Seven would smile at the handlers that passed him in the hallway, most ignored him but a few would smile back at him and he felt grateful to even be acknowledged by them. 

As he had gathered his materials he had been cornered by three of the handlers that he knew to be soldiers. They often assisted with the asset. They had laughed at him and knocked his materials from his hands. Seven had knelt to collect them, assuring the handlers that they were mission designated materials, which he had signed to them. The fact that Seven had dared to communicate with them was his folly. He was not designed to interact with them. He was no more important to them than a chair. Seven had received a sharp slap for his outspokenness and the promise that they would help him truly understand what he was. Seven would never forget the weight on his back as they pinned him to the floor and dug the sharp tip of a serrated dagger into his arms. They gouged the flesh and dug deep to prove that he was nothing but machine underneath. He didn’t want to believe them but as the flesh gave way they had found the wires. 

Seven had been reprogrammed and sent to the tube until missions required him. 

While his body physically protested the chill and any rough treatment, Seven had been conditioned to respond as a program would, unaffected unless damaged. With his current handler he was fighting a strange feeling in his chest as he signed again, ‘ _ _Functional. Mission?’__ He was primed and ready for her command. He was a program, waiting with a flashing blank cursor until he received input. His eyes carefully watched her face and her parted lips but no sound came from her. She did not issue him a mission. He felt a twinge of dread curl up his spine. Perhaps she did not really believe he was functional. He wasn’t damaged enough to be considered for decommission; his wounds were no greater than any other mission. ‘ _ _Mission?__ ’ He signed, forcing his hands not to shake. 

It took another moment but Seven watched as she straightened her spine and calm confidence slipped over her face. He felt his body relax in response. The expression on her face was something he could recognize with ease and he allowed his hands to slip out of their signing position. His handler was in charge and would command him. 

“Come with me, Seven. We’ll get you cleaned up. Um. Sanitization.” She gestured for him to follow her. Seven fell behind her in step. She opened the door and lead him out.

His eyes scanned the walls, floors, and area around them. It was like no facility he had ever seen before. It resembled a few government officials’ homes that he had extracted data from but never the facility. He could make out a large open area at the end of the hallway that must lead to the entrance but the sheer number of windows and light he could see streaming in surprised him. This facility was out in the open, easy for surveillance and snipers; the thought alone was uncomfortable. Seven may not be an offensive asset but he was programmed to find security breaches and vulnerabilities, he could not shake the feeling that this open layout was dangerous. He moved a little faster after his handler, eager to get away from the exposed areas. 

The room he was lead into had tiled floors, a drain, and urination equipment. His handler gathered a cloth and set it on the counter. She moved over to the drain and proceeded to explain the function of the equipment to him. Seven looked from her to the equipment and back repeatedly. He understood that this was sanitization and water was involved but he could not grasp the understanding of what she meant by choosing ‘hotness’ of water and what ‘shampoo’ was. A line furrowed between his brows as he remained unmoving. 

When it became apparent to his handler that Seven had no idea what she was trying to explain to him she did that little quirk of her shoulders and directed him into the tub and instructed him to sit. Seven complied without too much thought to the order as he arranged his lanky form into the tub, his legs stretched out in front of him. He kept his gaze fixed on the knobs on the wall in front of him and only minutely flinched at the sound of water pouring out from the nozzles. 

Seven inhaled a quick breath as the metallic wand was pointed over him but he recoiled only slightly as the water that touched his skin was warm. Standard sanitization was accompanied with high powered cold water spray which washed the blood and tissue from his body. This sanitization was warm but not uncomfortably so and the pressure of the water felt almost nonexistent on his skin. He watched with blank eyes as the crusted blood dampened and released its hold on his body and raced down to the bottom of the tub to be swept away in the swirling drain. His handler’s hands were gentle as she positioned him and began to scrub away at dirt that seemed to be ingrained into his pale skin. The treatment confused him but not as greatly as when his handler began to talk to him.

“Tony always gets into messes just like you do. He was a mess when they found him in the desert. He was covered in cuts and so dirty. He did just step out of a war zone. It’s amazing how well he cleaned up after that.” Meticulous hands soothed a wash cloth along one of Seven’s shoulders, cleaning the blood from a faint pink scar there. “Just like you, you were just like when they found Tony. All covered in dirt, blood, and trying to be so strong and fearless. If you can even believe it the first thing he asked for was a cheeseburger. A __cheeseburger.__ ” A splatter of soft water spray followed after the washcloth, licking and erasing the soap from his skin. “But Tony was scared. I think you were scared too, weren't you, Seven?” 

The words from his handler were quiet in the bathroom, almost hidden under the sound of the water but the repeated Russian echoed clearly in Seven’s head and wrapped meaning around the gibberish words. He listened and gathered data as he was designed to do. He allowed her to tip his head back and felt the water rush along his scalp and through his hair. Gentle fingertips urged his eyes shut and he allowed himself to obey his handler. Although his visual sensory was removed, the sensation that echoed over his skin and fired his neurons in such an amplified way that it was alarming to him. His alarm lessened as the sensations on his body unconsciously soothed him and caused him to uncoil and the tension within his muscles to ease. 

There was a momentary pause of silence as Seven felt his handler’s fingers carefully card through his dark hair and the gentle way they avoided the ports along his skull. “It’s okay to be scared, Seven. I bet you’ve seen so many things that this is all very confusing but it’s going to be alright. I’ll take care of you. It’ll be okay.” Seven noticed the strange vocal change in his handler, her voice seemed to grow husky and obstructed but he noted her breathing remained unchanged so he did not seek medical interference for her. 

Sanitization continued until all the dirt and blood was washed from Seven’s skin and he could feel his body beginning to protest the warmth from the water spray. While his hairless skin mimicked the biological reaction that the warmth was pleasing to him he felt the familiar hot discomfort and lightheadedness that came with too much heat. He couldn’t help his sense of relief when the warm spray ceased and his handler assisted him in drying and outfitting himself for the mission. 

Seven followed eagerly in his handler’s step as they headed towards the central part of the facility and to debriefing, he was ready to prove he was at minimal requirements and mission worthy. 

===

After Pepper had managed to see Seven properly bathed and dressed her next goal was to attempt to get him to eat something. The barely audible footsteps behind her was the only sign that Seven was following after her. He seemed so much more fragile once she had dressed him in a pair of Tony’s grey sweats and one of his blue sweaters. The bottoms of the sweats were several inches above Seven’s actual ankle but it was the best they could do for now. He had taken the clothes from her and regarded them curiously for a moment before putting them on. The stiffness in his body had seemed to relax as he was enclosed in the soft material, as if something had eased him. Where the pants were too short, the sweater exposed his arms enough for a glimpse of metal in his wrists and was a bit too large around his middle. Pepper hadn’t considered Tony a stockier man, but compared to Seven who was so slender, it had left a bit of flowing material around his middle. It was charmingly adorable. 

“Have a seat, Seven, and I’ll make you some eggs.” Pepper gestured to the table and watched as Seven sat with a straight spine and surveyed the room with rapid attention. His grey eyes scanned over the large kitchen windows before moving on to look at the hallways. Exits, Pepper realized with a sudden clarity. He’s looking for exits and scanning for threats. She turned back to the stove and set about making him breakfast. She rationalized with herself that it would be some time before he learned that he would be safe and not have to always on high alert. 

She wished she stocked the fridge better but she managed to find some juice that wasn’t expired and made toast. She pointedly ignored the slight twitch and creak of the chair from Seven when the toast popped but he seemed to settle again when he realized there was no threat. Pepper dumped the eggs and placed the toast on the plate before she brought it to him. It wasn’t the best looking breakfast -she didn’t cook often- but it would fill his stomach for now. 

“This is for you, Seven. Eat this then we’ll...talk about your next mission, okay?” The words were uncomfortable in her mouth but she knew that was what he was waiting for. She reclined back against the counter and rescued her forgotten mug of cold coffee to occupy her hands as she watched him. 

Seven regarded the plate in front of him with some confusion. He couldn’t remember ever eating in this manner. Humans ate, programs did not. The STRIKE team ate, the technicians ate, his handlers ate, Seven did not eat. His handler expected him to eat before he could receive his mission. He felt a sense of discomfort curl up his spine. Was this some manner of test? Programs did not eat. He lifted his eyes to his new handler and looked at her smile and encouraging look before looking down at his plate again. The situation appeared that he was expected to eat to follow a direct order but if he ate that meant he was believing that he was beyond his programming which he could not do. 

The enticement of a mission was what caused Seven to hesitate. He needed to let his handler know he was functioning at optimal levels and was prepared for a mission. He was ready and this food was in the way of his mission. Just as Seven was prepared to reach for the items on his plate his handler spoke again.

“Oh! You need utensils. Sorry, Seven. I’m all over the place today.” Pepper set down her cup and opened the drawer behind her and grabbed a fork. “You don’t have to eat with your hands.” She closed the drawer with her hip and approached the table. “Here, Seven.” 

As she neared him his eyes traced down to her hands and noticed the object with several sharp prongs. A sense of panic gripped Seven. He didn’t understand what he had done wrong. He had done maintenance, sanitization, and was following orders at his optimal capacity that he could understand. Had he not followed his handler’s direct order fast enough? He knew he should remain seated and accept his handler’s action but his mind raced, images of blood splattered trays and his throat ached, he could hear someone screaming from far away but he knew it could not be him, for he had never made such a humane sound. 

Seven reared back from Pepper in a hurry, the chair unbalanced and clattered to the floor. In his haste to get away his hip hit the table with such a force that it tilted and crashed to the floor, the modern glass top shattering against the marble tiles. The violent reaction caused the breath to escape from Pepper and the fork in her hand to drop to the floor. She watched as Seven escaped far enough from her and dropped into a crouch, his body curling in on itself for protection. His grey eyes were wide and unseeing as they stared in her direction and he began to desperately sign with his trembling hands. The speed at which he flew through the symbols was far too fast for Pepper’s basic knowledge to grasp. 

“J-Jarvis, can you translate this for me?” She managed to get out. Pepper didn’t approach Seven or move. She didn’t think he would be violent towards her but she couldn’t be sure after his reaction. He seemed to be terrified. She knew a little bit about PTSD and flashbacks, she had looked up as much as she could and met with the best psychologists she could find when Tony had been rescued, so she didn’t want to aggravate Seven further if this was one of those types of episodes. 

“Certainly, Miss Potts. ‘Functional. Optimal Performance. Functional. Mission. Directive. Functional. Mission. Directive. Upgrades unauthorized. Maintenance unauthorized. Functional. Functional. Directive. Mission. Dir-’” 

“Thank you, Jarvis. I think I understand.” Very slowly, Pepper crouched down where she was so that she was level with Seven. She ignored the shattered plate next to her feet and the eggs on the floor. She tried to make herself approachable and calm. She felt like she was trying to coax a frightened animal to her. “Translate for me, Jarvis.” She took a deep breath and smiled at Seven, ignoring the pain that seemed to be blossoming in her chest. “Seven? Seven. No maintenance, okay. No upgrades. You are functional and operating at...optimal performance, okay?” She watched as Seven blinked at her, his breathing still coming in rapid pants. Pepper continued to speak softly, seeing that he was beginning to slowly calm and come down. “You need to eat a little. We don’t have to use a utensil. You can use your hands. Look.” She scooped a piece of egg off the floor and ate it. There were more important things to her than worrying about germs and the house was probably clean enough to eat off the floor as it was. She made a show of chewing the egg and swallowing it. “See?” 

Seven’s hands ceased his erratic signing as he looked from Pepper to the eggs on the floor. He watched as Pepper took another piece of egg and ate it again. 

“See?” Pepper smiled widely at him, even though her heart was beating in her throat. “Come on.” She whispered under her breath as she watched him. She bit her lip as she watched his shaking hand reach out and hold an egg lightly between his fingers. He brought the egg closer to him and inspected it. Pepper held her breath and watched as Seven placed it into his mouth and slowly chewed, his motions were exaggerated as if he didn’t know how to chew, and it occurred to Pepper that maybe he actually didn’t. After what felt like an eternity he swallowed and she could have cheered over the victory. “That’s great, Seven. Just like that.” She congratulated him through a watery smile as she tried to keep her tears at bay. “How about a little more, huh?” 

It was a slow and heartbreaking process, but Pepper and Seven spent an hour on the kitchen floor as she coached him through eating his breakfast. 

It was apparent that the process of eating was highly uncomfortable for him. It was not only his fear of it, but also the physical discomfort as well. As he ate for her his face was pale and his chewing was becoming slower and slower. She had only a few moments of preparation but the violent spastic movement of his stomach alerted Pepper before Seven turned and vomited what he had managed to eat onto the kitchen floor. He was calmed enough that Pepper felt comfortable enough to scoot closer to him and rub his back as she watched him heave and expel his eggs and the brown stain of stomach acid. 

“Maybe next time we’ll try a spoon.” Pepper mused as Seven’s heaving eased. She wondered if perhaps it was the fork that set Seven off. She wrapped her arm around his middle and helped him stand back up. She didn’t even spare the disarray in the kitchen a glance as she guided him into the livingroom and sat down with him on the couch. She wondered if Bucky struggled with solid foods after he had escaped from Hydra. There were so many questions she had but she wasn’t ready to expose Seven to other people just yet. 

“Okay.” With the way the morning was going Pepper just wanted to move forward and take what little victories she could. She hoped some of the food from this morning would stay down but she would look into liquid solutions to keep Seven from becoming malnourished. She didn’t want him to think he was going to be punished for throwing up so she wanted to act as normal as possible and not draw attention to it. “You want your next mission.” The flash of grey eyes up to her own were a positive confirmation of that. 

Pepper pulled the laptop off the end of the couch and placed it on the coffee table before Seven. “Okay. Your mission is to learn International Sign Language and how to understand spoken English. Umm...it’s important for you to gather intel and understand orders properly.” She had no idea how they gave missions to Seven or what sort of missions they did give him but she wanted him to learn with her so they could communicate. 

Once the order was given it was like someone had hit a giant ‘GO’ button. Seven immediately turned away from Pepper and left the couch. She watched the determined look on his face and was surprised to see him place wires on the table, tape, and a knife. She was pretty sure one of those wires went to her camera but she wanted to see what he was doing. With careful precision he sliced into the rubber around one larger cord and extracted wires from the smaller cords. Pepper watched as he wrapped the wires around each other then taped the major of the wires from exposure. After several minutes, Seven was able to insert one end of the wire into Pepper’s laptop and the other end into a port on his wrist. 

“Miss Potts-” Jarvis sounded in slight alarm.

“Shh. There isn’t anything on that laptop that he could use.” Pepper spoke quietly so as to not draw Seven’s attention. The monitor of the laptop flickered momentarily before various videos began to play. The port on Seven’s wrist glowed a bright blue where it was connected a bright blue. “Jarvis?” She questioned as she watched the other man.

“It appears to be a data transfer, Miss Potts. He is gathering the data appropriate for the mission you gave him. I am not sure how much of the data he will be able to use immediately on the subject and how much will actually be transferred into his knowledge but I am curious as to how much he retains from the transfer.” 

It appeared that Seven was completely focused on the transfer and the videos on the screen before him. Pepper curled up with her tablet on the end of the couch to watch him. After a few hours he seemed to become aware of his surroundings again and glanced at her, but once she rewarded him with a smile he returned to his task with renewed vigor. 

Seven did not retain all the data he received from his download. He could manage a basic understanding gained from the data but it was a very bare bone amount of the languages. 

As the days wore on, Pepper found herself charmed by his inquisitive nature. The few roadblocks they encountered had defaulted to everyone in the house eating with spoons, Seven would only shower if prompted and instructed by Pepper but he had learned quickly how to do so himself to her standard, and his wounds had healed as if they were never there. Seven also seemed to prefer to sit at Pepper’s feet in the evening as he watched language videos and seemed to follow her eagerly around the house. 

She had begun to relax around him the longer she was with him. She attributed this partially to his lack of smell and that her own Alpha hormones did not register Seven as a threat or even agitate her if he was a claimed or unclaimed Omega. Pepper had thought that his lack of scent would simply seem as if she was around a Beta when she was near him but it was becoming apparent to her that even being around Betas would have triggered some instinctual response on a minute level that she wasn’t really aware of till now.

When she was around Seven, Pepper didn’t even notice him in an instinctual sense. He could stand next to her and she would simply remain relaxed and unaffected by him. She couldn’t smell or sense any of his disturbed emotions or status when she was near him. The only way she could catch a glimpse of his discomfort was his extremely well concealed facial cues.

As the week grew closer to ending and Pepper was supposed to return to New York, she knew that she was going to need some help. 

When Seven was successfully distracted by videos and she was positive Jarvis would watch him, she slipped outdoors to the veranda to make a phone call. It was only two rings before it was picked up. 

“Hello, Pepper? It’s Steve. What can do I for you?” The sound of Steve’s genuinely concerned voice brought a smile to Pepper’s lips.

“Hello, Steve. There isn’t any emergency. I just have a small...issue...that I could really use your and Bucky’s help on if you have the time.” She glanced through the glass doors at the sight of Seven’s bent head over the laptop as he lounged on the floor. It was a sight to see him try to sound out the words and move his mouth along to the phrases even if he couldn’t speak. His glowing blue eyes were focused intently on the screen before him, the wire once again plugged into his wrist. 

“Okay. Tony said you would be back in New York this weekend, did you want-”

“Umm. I need some help before I get back in, Steve. Could you and Bucky come to our house in Malibu? I know it’s short notice. I’ll clear a jet for you if you could make it here in a day or so.” Pepper crossed her arm over her chest and pressed her cellphone tighter to her ear. There was a momentary pause but Steve answered her the way she imagined he would.

“Sure, Pepper. Bucky and I can be there tomorrow. I’ll let Tony know we’ll come back with you on your flight home.”

“Please don’t tell Tony that you’re coming.” She blurted out in a rush. “Please, Steve. I just need a bit of privacy right now.” 

“Are you sure you aren’t in danger, Pepper?” Steve spoke slowly, uncomfortable with the fact that this was meant to be a secret. “Is there something you can’t tell Tony about?”

“Please, Steve. I’m not in danger. I’ll tell Tony soon, but I just need a bit of help from you and Bucky. I’ll explain everything once you get here.” As she spoke she saw Seven’s head snap up and he scanned the area. He blinked and noticed that Pepper was outside on the veranda with wide eyes. He unplugged from the computer and pushed up from the floor and headed towards her in a hurry. 

“Alright, Pepper. We’ll head out now and be there in the morning. Are you sure-”

“Great, thanks, Steve! Talk to you soon, bye!” She hung up the phone just as the sliding glass doors opened. Seven peered around the open door before he headed out onto the porch, his slightly larger frame positioning to block the view of Pepper from the external angles. 

“ _ _Unsafe. Perimeter not secure.__ ” He frowned down at her as he signed. With a soft sigh she nodded and slipped her phone into her pocket without him noticing.

“I just needed some fresh air. It won’t happen again. Not with you here to protect me.” She patted his chest and gestured to go back in which he quickly ushered her inside. He closed the veranda doors behind them and locked them. He peered through the darkness, as if he could assess threats. It struck Pepper that perhaps he could see in the dark, she had no idea if he couldn’t. 

As the days had gone on Pepper had noticed that Seven was becoming much more protective of her. He followed her around the house and had to know where she was at all times, he preferred to keep her away from the open windows and did not like her venturing out of the house. Seven was so adamant against her leaving that when he was undergoing ‘sanitization’ she had groceries delivered to them and made sure the delivery boy was gone by the time Seven had finished. She didn’t feel threatened by Seven, but she could tell that he felt that she was in danger and didn’t know how else to protect her. 

Pepper took a seat on the couch and turned on one of her favorite shows. She smiled as Seven settled next to her feet with the laptop in his lap again. She reached out and gently touched his hair, which he had gotten to the point that he no longer flinched at her touch and accepted it with ease. She hoped that Steve and Bucky would be able to help her and figure out a way to easily transition Seven from Malibu to Avengers Tower with relative ease. He would be safer in Avengers Tower and perhaps they would know more about where he came from and what Hydra did to him.

She worried her lower lip between her teeth until Seven glanced up at her and she smiled at him. He didn’t smile back but he pressed his head slightly into her hand. Everything would be alright. It had to be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forks are dangerous.  
> Forks are scary.  
> Forks are... _formidable._
> 
> Shaish: Forks are traumatizing.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work that was inspired to me by Heat Stroke (http://archiveofourown.org/works/8071240) and Devour (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1645883/chapters/3488870).


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